Drier



Aug. 17, 1937. CONNOR ET AL 2,090,030

DRIER Original Filed March 18, 1955 Patented Aug. 17, 1937 muss John 11. Connor, Newton, and Matthew M. Merrltt, deceased, late of Middleton, Mass, by Anna P. Merritt, Middleton, Mass administratrix, assignors to The Tanning Process Com pany, Boston, Mass, a corporation of Massachnsetts Original application March 18. 1935, Serial No. 11,594. Divided and this application December 24, 1936, Serial No. 117,666

3 Claim.

This invention relates to driers for sheet material. While the invention is illustrated as em-' bodied in a drier for hides and skins stretched out upon drying boards or frames, it will be 5 understood that the invention and various important features thereof may have other applications and uses.

This application is a division of application Serial No. 11,594, filed March 18, 1935 in the names of John H. Connor and Matthew M.

Merritt.

In the illustrated drier, there is advantageously employed a well-known type of blower having its operating shaft-arranged at a right angle to the body of the blower. This type of blower moves the air at a maximum rate at and near the periphery of the blower, whereas air is moved very much slower and in much smaller quantity at and near to the axis of the blower. Hence in utilizing this type of blower, provision is made for arranging the blowers in sets with a blower in a plane at one side of and overlapping to a substantial extent two blowers in another plane with their peripheries only slightly spaced from each other, whereby a blower located in an upper level, as in the illustrated construction, supplies air to the central portions of two blowers in a lower level. In this way a practically uniform flow of air may be obtained through the drier.

These and other important features of the invention and novel combinations of parts will now be described in detail in the specification and then pointed out more particularly in the appendedclaims.

The drawing is a perspective view of a drier,

with parts of the walls thereof broken away,"

illustrating one embodiment of the invention.

In the illustrated apparatus, which is specially designed for the drying of hides and skins, there is provided an air chamber 2 above a y g chamber 0 which contains drying frames 0 having put-out skins ll tacked thereon. The said chamber 2 has a flat top wall l2 provided with an opening it in which are. mounted two fans Ii and II, the said fans being of a well-known commercial type and rotatable with their lower faces in substantially the same horizontal plane, each being secured to a vertically arranged shaft 2| driven from any suitable source of power The fans 16 and 18 are arranged with their peripheries near to each other and are of a size to extend over substantially the full length of the drier. 1 Since air is forced downwardly in greater quantity at and near to the periphery of each of the fans It and 18 than at the central portion of each of said fans. there is provided a third fan 22 also mounted on a vertically arranged driven shaft 24, the said fan 22 being arranged to overlap the fans It and II nearly to the vertical shaft 20 of each of said fans. The purpose of the fan 22 is to create and direct an adequate supply of air to the middle portions of each of the fans l6 and I 8, thereby making substantially uniform the currents of air which are forced downwardly through the air chamber 2 and over all of the drying boards or frames I of the drying chamber 6. To assist the fans l6, l8 and 22 in the drawing of air through the opening ll into the air chamber 2, there is provided a wall 26 which surrounds the opening it and gives direction to the air currents created by said fans. As shown the boards I are slidably held by guldeways 28 at top and bottom of the chamber 6 which is otherwise freely open to thealr at bothtop and bottom of the drier.

In drying hides or skins in the illustrated drier, a hide or skin III is first stretched out and secured to a drying board or frame I and is then placed within the drying chamber 6 by inserting the drying board or frame in corresponding upper and lower guldeways 28 by which the drying board or frame is held in a substantially vertical plane in the desired spaced relation with respect to adjacent pieces of work. Upon starting the blowers l6, I8, 22, in operation, unsaturated air from a suitable source is drawn into the drier and is forced downwardly in substantially uniform amounts over the surfaces of the hides or skins in the drying chamber 6, the air escaping at the lower end of the drying chamber either into the room or into a tunnel to conduct the air to an air conditioning chamber before it is returned to the drier at the top thereof. The best results are attained when air at ordinary room temperatures is passed over the hides or skins during the drying operation.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States'is:

1. In a drier, a chamber having an outlet and an inlet for air, and a plurality of blowers turning about axes at right angles to said blowers and arranged at the inlet of the chamber, said blowers being arranged in parallel planes and in such manner that a blower in one plane suppliw air to central portions of two blowers in another plane, whereby air is effectively distributed to work pieces in said chamber.

2. In a drier, a chamber having means for supporting pieces of work, an outlet for air at one endof said chamber, an inlet for air at another end said chamber, and a plurality of blowers turning about axes at right angles to said blowers and arranged at the inlet end of the chamber,

said blowers being arranged in parallel planes and in such manner that a blower in one plane supplies airto central portions of two blowers in another plane, whereby air is eiiectively distributed to work pieces in said chamber.

3. In a drier for sheet material, a chamber having -guideWays for positioning and supporting pieces of work in vertical parallel'planes, an out--.

let for air at the lower end oi said chamber, an

inlet ior air at the upper end of 'saidcliamber, and

, chamber.

a, plurality of blowers turning aboutvertical axes and arranged to extend nearly the full length of the chamber at the inlet end thereof, said blowers being arrangedin two levels one above the other, and in such manner that an upperflblower supplies air tocentral portions of two blowers below,

whereby air in substantially uniform amounts is supplied to work pieces in all portions of said 

